'21 Indian crew on ship attacked in Strait safe'
New Delhi, April 24 -- A Panama-flagged container ship that was fired upon by Iranian boats amid an escalation of tensions in the Strait of Hormuz had 21 Indian crew members, who are unharmed and safe, India's shipping ministry said on Thursday, even as another container vessel headed to India after transiting the waterway.
The Euphoria is one of three ships that were attacked by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Wednesday as Tehran pushed back against a US blockade of its shipping, seeking to reassert its control of the strait that is normally the route for a fifth of global oil supplies. The other ships attacked were the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca and the Liberian-registered Epaminondas - which was headed to the Mundra port in India. "A vessel, Euphoria, was having 21 Indian seafarers on board, and all of them are safe," said additional secretary in the shipping ministry, Mukesh Mangal, at an inter-ministerial press conference on Thursday. The Euphoria also has a Burmese crew member.
The Epaminondas had one Indian crew member, who is also safe, Mangal said.
"None of the Indian seafarers has been injured in the firing on the foreign-flagged vessels," he added, according to a report by the news agency ANI.
The Francesca, which Iranian media said has been detained along with the Epaminondas at Bandar Abbas port, did not have any Indian crew. Iranian media had reported the Euphoria was stranded on the Iranian coast after the attack. Ship tracking websites show the ship is near the Oman coast, and give its current destination as Khor Fakkan port. However, a top shipping ministry official, on condition of anonymity said late on Thursday that the vessel is sailing towards its original destination of Jeddah. To be sure, real-time tracking of maritime traffic in the strait, , has been affected by widespread jamming as well as spoofing of transponder data....
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